Lorna M. George. Photo: Provided

We need a change of heart. Only love can transform our distorted hearts and minds and twisted souls. I thank God every day for the foundation that I have. Many years ago I was privileged to attend a parochial pre-school founded by a kind and loving white couple brother and sister Dickson who, besides teaching us to read and write, also taught us students to love, care, and to appreciate each other. Our teacher’s sister Judith George and Sister Sylvia Maduro inculcated in us children God’s word. I am so glad for the love of God in my heart and the desire to love my fellow men.

Sad to say, but it is true, hate gives many people comfort against their inadequacies. My friend, love is stronger than hate because love is of Christ. My Bible tells me that jealousy is as cruel as the grave. There is nothing worse than jealousy in the heart. Do you remember what happened in Grenada some years ago? The young and good-looking Maurice Bishop let his heart become so overcharged with hate and resentment that he overthrew Sir Eric Gary’s elected government. Days later Maurice Bishop was ordered executed by wicked, evil and bitter members of his own political party. Hate begets hate.

The problem with many people is they do not have a frame of reference. The Bible should be our standard and guide for good living. Many of my brothers and sisters do not have not respect or reverence for God’s word because they do not know the value of the Bible. They think the Bible is just another book. No, No, it is not. The Bible is the unadulterated word of God. While a student at Tuskegee University at three or four O’clock in the wee hours of the morning I would close my Physics book or Chemistry book and read my Bible. The man Christ Jesus became alive to me and He leaped out from the pages with dirt under his finger nails. What an enrapturing experience.

Hate and bitterness within our hearts only degrade us and make us subhuman. Love Conquers hate.

Sojourner Truth, a Black slave who escaped slavery, wisely said “Truth is power and it prevails.” It is or wicked and ungodly behaviour the reason for all the bitterness, evil, and hostility in our society today.

We find it very difficult to love and appreciate each other because long ago many parents did not allow their children to play with certain children in the community. Many parents created the image that certain children were not good enough. How sad; as a result we have learned to push away each other and we have learned to look down our nose on each other because of family background. It grieves my spirit to still observe this ugly behaviour in my generation. This is the reason why many of the young men who had the opportunity to attend college made sure they grabbed a wife before they came back home. The young men could not be bothered with the silliness and lack of knowledge of the VI young ladies who believed the foolishness this society taught them, how to reject each other. Many parents preferred their lily white daughters to marry to a half man from Haiti than to marry to a gentleman from Tortola. How sad. Do you know why? The girl’s mother despises the boy’s family or maybe he does not have the right job or come from the wrong side of the track. Do you know that these people go to the same church and take sacrament at the same communion rail? The foolish parents in this society marry off their children to people for every reason except love. Parents do not know that the right man can complete their daughters lives; however, the wrong woman and finish their sons life. Something to think about.

As a people we are hurting and bleeding. The problem is the lack of knowledge among us. God must help us. Life is about love. The hate and resentment is like a wedge between us. It is driving us apart. The good news of Jesus is that we love one another. Our condition is so pathetic yet we have the nerves to call this a Christian society. Too many of us do not exemplify Christian virtues. Looking down our nose on each other in a condescending way as we do here is not Christ-like. Such action controls the mind of a person and makes him feel inferior. How beastly. We are so grounded in our upbringing that we find it difficult to change. Only the love of God can transform and alter our hearts of stone. Brothers and sisters let us stop fighting because we may devour each other.

Too many of us preach a hate message. Governor John S. Duncan OBE was so correct when he said that we must re-consider our support for any organization that promotes hate. According to the Webster dictionary – Hate implies a feeling of great dislike or aversion with persons as the object. Detest, connotes the bearing of malice. My fellow BVIslanders let us saturate our hearts with love. Love has a healing virtue. We are bruised and wounded from the hate that destroying us. Many people’s lips are dripping hate and envy. If only we could learn to love and not hate. Hate is a powerful force but love is even more powerful. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.

How fitting for me to share a portion of my morning devotion with you my audience. It began with a quote from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” King’s vision was grounded on the power of love to break the spiral of injustice and the evil of racism. Dr King criticised as he energised. He disturbed the status quo by questioning the current ordering of life around him. King was bothered by complacency on the part of those who remain silent in the midst of oppressive practices. As he wrote: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence of the good people. The time has come for us to speak out against the hate and vindictiveness of BVIslanders towards each other. Someone must break the silence or else we all will continue to perish.

I know we hate each other without a reason. One time I said to a friend, “Girl, I am going to make an appointment to see Dr Pickering.” She quickly said with her face made up like she was smelling filth, “Don’t go see him.” Do you think I studied that poor soul, not me. Dr Pickering and I are from Long Look and we grew up together. We attended Methodist afternoon Sunday school. His mother taught my Sunday school class. Today we attend the Long Look Methodist Church and we sit on the same pew. You should hear him sing. I love him like a brother; I get the best treatment when I go to see my brother’s office as a patient and I sure don’t worry about money. Dr Pickering gave me a total hysterectomy and told me that I could adopt children. Only a brother can tell a brother such a thing with getting a clout against his head.